Observational studyThe western journal of emergency medicine2023
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Insecurity in an Urban Emergency Department Patient Population.
Observational study in The western journal of emergency medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.
- Feasibility of an Emergency Department-based Food Insecurity Screening and Referral Program.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Emergency Department Food Insecurity Screening, Food Voucher Distribution and Utilization: A Prospective Cohort Study.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionFood insecurity (FI) has been associated with adverse health outcomes and increased healthcare expenditures. Many families experienced reduced access to food during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A 2019 study revealed that the pre-pandemic prevalence of FI at an urban, tertiary care hospital's emergency department (ED) was 35.3%. We sought to evaluate whether the prevalence of FI in the same ED patient population increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsWe performed a single-center, observational, survey-based study. Surveys assessing for FI were administered to clinically stable patients presenting to the ED over 25 consecutive weekdays from November-December 2020.
resultsOf 777 eligible patients, 379 (48.8%) were enrolled; 158 (41.7%) screened positive for FI. During the pandemic, there was a 18.1% relative increase (or 6.4% absolute increase) in the prevalence of FI in this population (P=0.040; OR=1.309, 95% CI 1.012-1.693). The majority (52.9%) of food-insecure subjects reported reduced access to food due to the pandemic. The most common perceived barriers to access to food were reduced food availability at grocery stores (31%), social distancing guidelines (26.5%), and reduced income (19.6%).
conclusionOur findings suggest that nearly half of the clinically stable patients who presented to our urban ED during the pandemic experienced food insecurity. The prevalence of FI in our hospital's ED patient population increased by 6.4% during the pandemic. Emergency physicians should be aware of rising FI in their patient population so that they may better support patients who must choose between purchasing food and purchasing prescribed medications.
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